Poland: Seahawks win fifth straight over Eagles, Panthers take care of Falcons

The Wroclaw Panthers remain undefeated with a 5-0 record in Poland’s Topliga after manhandling the upstart Tychy Falcons this past weekend. Meanwhile the Gdynia Seahawks delivered a similar fate to the Warsaw Eagles dominating them in Pruszków for their fifth straight win over the Eagles.

Wrocław Panthers 42 – Tychy Falcons 7 (in Wrocław)

The Wrocław Panthers wrapped up a first-place finish in the Topliga regular season on Friday evening, shaking off an early Tychy touchdown to blow out the Falcons 42-7 in Wrocław. Rickey Stevens ran wild all night long, finding the end zone four times against a Falcons defense that wasn’t given much time to rest in between possessions by the Tychy offense. The Falcons fell into a three-way tie for second place with the Gdynia Seahawks and the Warsaw Eagles at 3-2.

Grzegorz Dominik set the Falcons up in great field position with a long return of the opening kickoff, and Tychy’s reliable running back Jacek Wróblewski cashed in with an 8-yard touchdown run to give the Falcons a surprising early lead. It would not last long, however, as an 18-yard scoring run by Stevens later in the quarter knotted the score at 7. Stevens doubled the lead with a 14-yarder in the second quarter, and the teams would head into the halftime break with just one possession separating them on the scoreboard.

The second half was a different story entirely, as the defending champions asserted themselves and took control of the game. Stevens started the half off with his third rushing touchdown of the game, and Mateusz Kamiński returned a fumble for a score on the next Tychy possession to build the momentum for Wrocław. Bartosz Dziedzic then found Grzegorz Mazur for a 22-yard score later in the quarter to effectively put the game out of reach. The Panthers have now outscored their opponents by an average of 36 points per game on their way to a 5-0 record.

UP NEXT:
Panthers (5-0): vs. Husaria Szczecin (0-4), May 14
Falcons (3-2): at Gdynia Seahawks (3-2), May 20

Gdynia Seahawks 42 – Warsaw Eagles 12 (in Pruszków)

Paweł Henicz hauled in three touchdown passes on Saturday to lead in the Gdynia Seahawks to a 42-12 win over the home Warsaw Eagles in the the 19th edition of Poland’s most-played rivalry. The victory gave the Seahawks five consecutive wins over the Eagles and a 10-9 lead in a series in which they have also won 9 of the last 11 games. Both Gdynia and Warsaw are tied for second place in the Topliga standings with the Tychy Falcons with just one game to go in the regular season, while the Białystok Lowlanders lurk a half-game behind all three.

Henicz scored twice in the first quarter around a Krzysztof Stojak touchdown reception to give the Seahawks a 14-6 lead after a quarter of play. Bartosz Chojecki plunged in from a yard out in the second quarter to make it 21-6 in favor of Gdynia, and it took a goal-line stand at the end of the quarter by the Warsaw defense to keep the score there going into halftime and keep the Eagles in the contest.

The Seahawks continued to wear away at the Eagles defense in the second half, and Jakub Mazan gave them more cushion in the third quarter with a 43-yard touchdown catch. Henicz completed his hat trick early in the fourth quarter, taking Joseph Bradley’s fourth touchdown throw of the game 24 yards for a score. The Eagles would get a touchdown catch from young receiver Aleksander Kawiarowski later in the quarter, but it was Jan Domagała’s 80-yard touchdown run with a minute remaining that finished the scoring. That gave Gdynia a 30-point margin of victory, which matched the biggest difference ever between the two teams.

UP NEXT:
Eagles (3-2): at Białystok Lowlanders (2-2), May 21
Seahawks (3-2): vs. Tychy Falcons (3-2), May 20

TOPLIGA WEEK 7 SCHEDULE:
Saturday, May 13, Time TBA: Wrocław Outlaws (0-4) vs. Białystok Lowlanders (2-2)